“I was serious earlier you know.” Rainbow Dash said to Star Shine. They were walking through the streets of Ponyville now. Scootaloo had run ahead of them, still moving her small wings. Rainbow Dash had taken the chance to talk seriously to Star Shine while Scootaloo was out of earshot.
“So was I. Probably. But what are you talking about?” Star Shine replied.
“Just what are you doing?”
“I’m going shopping to get some things, why? I’ve also really been cooped up for days travelling here. I could do with some fun. I’d carry on Scootaloo’s lesson but she needs to build up her wingpower first.” Star Shine tried his best to give a reassuring smile but Rainbow Dash didn’t buy it.
“You owe me answers about this Vacuus Medeis thing. Twilight said it’s something only Unicorns get.” Rainbow Dash said.
“I’ll tell you everything later. For now just let Scootaloo enjoy herself, alright? And remember we won’t know anything until her wingpower is built up.” Star Shine replied, motioning to Scootaloo who was looking in the various shop windows. Rainbow Dash sighed.
“For her sake.” she replied, picking up her pace to stand next to Scootaloo and see what she was looking at. She was mildly put at ease by the fact that they wouldn’t know anything for sure until Scootaloo built up her wingpower. She wanted answers, but she was more content to wait than before. Star Shine caught up and saw that the pair were looking at some Wonderbolts memorabilia. Rainbow Dash had her fair share of the stuff but you could never have enough memorabilia, especially not of something you really loved. The store was full of merchandise for various things including the Wonderbolts, Daring Do, and even the popular radio drama Doctor Whooves. There were posters hanging on the wall, cardboard cutouts, books and figurines. Star Shine smiled and ducked into the shop. Rainbow Dash and Scootaloo watched from the window as he walked to the counter. They couldn’t see what he bought but he came back out a minute later with a small bag tucked under his wing.
“Whatcha got there?” Rainbow Dash asked, looking at the bag. Scootaloo glanced over too, as curious as Rainbow Dash.
“Just another one of my nefarious schemes. You’ll find out soon enough.” Star Shine replied, tucking the back further into his wing and out of sight.
“You should probably stop doing that you know.” Rainbow Dash said with a sigh.
“Doing what?” Star Shine asked, playing innocent.
“Plotting like that. What are you up to?”
“What I’m ‘up to,” Star Shine replied, walking over to Scootaloo and pulling the bag back out, “is helping little Scootaloo here fly.” he finished, patting Scootaloo on the head. If it was anypony besides Rainbow Dash who did that to her Scootaloo would have probably shoved their hoof away but Scootaloo was beginning to like Star Shine. She found his antics weird but a little amusing. What he did next certainly helped her opinion of him. He held the bag up with one hoof and carefully tipped the contents out onto the other hoof. A small figure of Spitfire, captain of the Wonderbolts, landed on his hoof and he offered it to Scootaloo.
“Is that for me?” Scootaloo asked, her wings buzzing with excitement. As much as they could buzz with the brace trapping them. Star Shine nodded and put it back in the bag. Scootaloo’s face fell a little.
“It is, but I’ll hold on to it for now. We don’t have any saddlebags and you need to keep moving your wings.” Star Shine explained. Scootaloo nodded her understanding and smiled brightly again. “See, that’s all it was. A little present for her.” Star Shine said, looking up at Rainbow Dash.
“Okay okay. Sorry for jumping to conclusions.” Rainbow Dash replied with a resigned sigh. This time it had been nothing but she was sure that Star Shine was still hiding things from her.
“No problem Dashie. Don’t worry about anything else either. I’ll tell you anything you want to know later. For now though let’s just enjoy a day out.” Star Shine replied. Rainbow nodded and the trio continued their walk into town.
“Thanks for buying something for her. She certainly looks happier.” Rainbow Dash said. Scootaloo certainly was looking happier. Her wings were buzzing quicker than they had been before and she was running around the town excitedly. “Errr...how did you pay for it though?” she asked, checking Star Shine for any sign of a wallet or purse.
“Technically I didn’t. I need you to watch Scootaloo for a minute while I go back to the house and pick up my wallet. Make sure she keeps moving her wings.” Star Shine replied sheepishly. He took off before Rainbow Dash had a chance to argue.
“Oh for Celestia’s sake, not again.” Rainbow Dash sighed, watching Star Shine fly away. Scootaloo heard him take off and turned around to see he was indeed gone.
“Where’d he go?” Scootaloo asked, walking over to Rainbow Dash.
“Back to the house he said. He had to go get his wallet. He also said you need to keep moving your wings.” Rainbow Dash replied, turning to face Scootaloo.
“I think it’s broken or something. I’ve not felt it tighten yet.” Scootaloo said, looking at the brace around her. As soon as the words left her mouth she regretted them as the brace tightened a little and she gave a sharp intake of breath in response to the pain. “Oh, there it is.” she said with exasperation. Rainbow Dash giggled and patted Scootaloo’s wings.
“It’s for the best. Come on, let’s keep looking around while we wait for Shine to get back. I’m sure he’ll be able to find us.” Rainbow Dash said. Scootaloo nodded and the two of them continued to walk around town.
***
“At least this time I’m not hiding anything. Wonder if she’ll think that though.” Star Shine thought to himself as he flew towards the cloud manor. He hadn’t been lying when he said he was going back there for his wallet. Because ponies didn’t really keep their money on them at all times thanks to not having a convenient place to store it, a lot of shopkeepers were willing to let ponies pay them back later in the day. Ponies only tended to keep their saddlebags on when they were going shopping. Ponyville, and Equestria in general, was full of trusting ponies and the honour system was present in various aspects of life. While he had told Rainbow Dash he wanted to go shopping, he had hardly prepared for it. Going out like that had been a spur of the moment decision. Star Shine made it back to the cloud house and flew in through an open window. Although technically all the windows were open as you couldn’t really put glass in a cloud window. Whilst It was a pretty poor security feature, Rainbow’s house was out of the way and ponies trusted their neighbours. Ponyville was the kind of place where you could leave your door unlocked and nothing would happen and Rainbow Dash was close enough to Ponyville for it to count.
Star Shine made his way to the living room and picked up his saddlebags, putting them down on the table. He took the figure of Spitfire and placed that on the table too. He then took a few things out of his saddlebag including a small drawstring bag that served as his wallet, a piece of paper, a pen, and an envelope. He wrote a note on the paper and put it in the envelope along with some bits from his wallet and the bag he had taken the figure out of. He had picked up more than just the one figure for Scootaloo. This was something he wanted to be a surprise though and so he had found a way to get away from the girls to do it. He noted an address down on the envelope, popped it in his mouth for safe keeping, and headed back out the window, returning to the town below after also biting down on the strings of his wallet and securing it in his mouth. He would have tucked it under a wing but it’s very difficult to fly like that.
Before heading back to Rainbow Dash he had to make a few stops. The first stop he made was the post office. It was away from the collectible store and there was a chance Scootaloo and Rainbow Dash would be close by there so he decided it would be best to go to that store second. He walked into the post office and handed over his letter, as well as enough bits to cover the postage. He arrived shortly before they closed for the day and breathed a sigh of relief when he found he made it in time. The mare behind the counter was not as pleased as he was about the last minute work.
With that task done he headed back towards the store. He couldn’t see Rainbow Dash or Scootaloo anywhere but they couldn’t have gotten very far. He could worry about finding them again when he had paid the store owner. He walked in, hoofed over some bits for his purchase, and then walked back out again. He held his wallet in his mouth again as he took off into the sky to look for Rainbow Dash and Scootaloo. After a few moments of searching he found them walking by a restaurant a few streets away and took off after them.